Exeter Chiefs coach Ricky Pellow says the two-week Anglo-Welsh Cup stage will be a great opportunity for players to make amends for their Champions Cup exit.

The Premiership Champions were knocked out of the European competition following last Saturday’s 28-21 loss to Glasgow, and attention now turns to the cross-border tournament.

Pellow, who will take charge of Exe’s trip to Worcester Warriors on Saturday, says they will approach the competition no differently to if they still remained in the Champions Cup.

He said: “I don’t think it adds any onus to winning the Anglo-Welsh because we’ve been knocked out of the Champions Cup. We’ll attack this competition the same if we were still in it.

“Saturday was disappointing, we didn’t play the way we wanted to, and we’ve talked to the players this week that they have an opportunity to show a bit of fight, a bit of character, and show what it’s like to play in an Exeter Chiefs shirt.”

Chiefs have won both of their opening group matches in the competition so far, and Pellow is expecting a tough contest in Worcestershire.

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“We know we’ve got a really tough game on Saturday,” he said. “Worcester have said they’re going to be playing a close to full strength side, so we know the challenges that are going to lie ahead for us, but we’re really excited about it.

“We’ve got Harlequins and Sale both chasing down in our group, so we know we’re going to have put in a result at the weekend to push out of the group.”

The competition is often an opportunity for Exe’s academy players to shine, and with the under-18s taking part in first-team training this week, and Pellow said it shows how well the academy is progressing.

He said: “We had a game on Sunday and the group of players that played in that will probably play a role in the Anglo-Welsh. From that perspective it gave us 80 minutes to knock out a few cobwebs from some of the guys that haven’t played in a while, so that’s put us in good stead going into this weekend.

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“A lot of the guys who played on Saturday are having a rest week, so the under-18s came in to train, so to have them train against first-team players, with 15 past and present players in the squad on Saturday shows what’s good about our academy structure and how we develop those players.”

Pellow said the Anglo-Welsh Cup is important to mix youth with experience, which is what Exe will deploy on Saturday.

“It will be a mixture of senior players who have played a lot of Premiership rugby. Kai Hortsmann will lead the side.

“He’s a great person to be in charge of this group for this two-week block because he embeds what we’re all about and I know the younger players look up to him.

“We’ve recalled a few young players on loan. Tom Launder has come back from Pirates and will feature in the back-row, Tom Henderson will be in the centre, so we’ve got to sprinkle some senior quality players and also some up and coming players as well.”